Sony Sugar Embarks on a Sh400 million Maintenance to Restore Full Production Capacity

KNA BY Geoffrey Makokha and George Agimba

The South Nyanza (Sony) Sugar Company is set for a major maintenance operation to restore the plant’s ability to mill at full capacity.

The maintenance, scheduled to start in mid-October to late November this year, will require at least Sh400 million to boost the factory’s ability to mill cane beyond 1,500 tonnes per day.

According to the managing director Martin Dima, the company has already started to acquire the necessary tools and spares both locally and abroad.

The plant has a capacity to crush up to 3,000 tonnes if the fatigued machine is properly maintained or replaced.

The 1979 installed machine has been working for over 45 years and it is worn and torn.

Since Dima was appointed three months ago, there has been an improvement in the operation of the machine allowing it to crush between 1,700 to 2,200 tonnes of cane per day as compared to the previous 800 tonnes.

The Sh865-million worth semi-autonomous company has not had a substantive managing director for close to eight years, and the appointment of Dima three months ago has breathed life into the factory putting it on the right path of restoring its lost glory.

The frequent breakdown of the plant has however reduced its effectiveness in maximizing its full potential of crashing at least 3,000 tonnes of cane per day.

The old machines have also reduced the sugar production, which under normal circumstances is one tonne of sugar per 10 tonnes of cane. These frequent breakdowns have however led to the plant crushing only 12 tonnes of cane to produce one tonne of sugar.

Dima has overseen the transformation of the mill's ability to produce 1,500 tonnes of sugar weekly from the previous 700 tonnes of bagged sugar, doubling the company's final output.  

Despite these challenges, he acknowledged that the company has restored farmers' confidence by boosting operational frameworks through the efforts that have been effectively put in place.

The resolved payment delays to farmers and prompt payment to 1,500 direct employees and other 3,000 indirectly employed staff has greatly elevated the morale of farmers and the workforce, he said.

The MD disclosed that the company has been able to reduce the five-month delay period of paying farmers to within a month which has seen an increase in cane deliveries to the factory.

“When I was appointed a substantive managing director, I found a lapse of five months of non-payment to farmers. Currently, we are paying farmers that delivered their canes this August,” Dima said.  

Dima explained that going forward Sony Sugar wants to reduce the payment window to within a week to further improve the economic status of cane farmers who play a crucial role in ensuring the factory operates optimally.

The revival of the company will also require increased acreage of cane to fully utilise the company’s capacity to crush 3,000 tonnes of cane per day.

The factory has 2,400 hectares of nuclear under cane with an additional 6,000 hectares from contracted farmers.

Currently, Sony Sugar has more than 25,000 contracted farmers from the counties of Narok, Homabay, Kisii and Migori.

Dima emphasized the need to increase cane acreage to continuously provide raw materials to the company.

In the recent past, many cane farmers in South Nyanza diversified their cane farming to other crops after years of disappointments over delayed payments.

Some decided to sell their cane to private millers like the Sukari Industries in Homabay and the Mara Sugar in Narok and a good number reverted to growing other crops such maize, sweet potatoes and bamboo to get income.

The reduction of cane acreage has involuntarily made Sony to partner with Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) and the Sugar Research Institute to develop early maturing cane resistant to weeds and which contains high sucrose to enhance the production of sugar produced by the company.